Spring 2011: Pressurized Italic with Reggie Ezell

Posted on: 5 May 2011

The BSS spring workshop April 29 – May 1 in Bozeman was PRESSURIZED ITALIC with Reggie Ezell. It was a  seriously a hardworking, AND enjoyable, weekend of learning how to write various forms of Pressurized Italic. The crew of the Bridger Mountain Calligraphy Guild did a fabulous job planning and organizing this workshop and a hearty thank you goes to all of them for ‘withstanding the pressure’! The food was delicious and the comraderie was sweet.

Reggie started us off lining several sheets of paper with a great method for easily drawing the desired degree of slant guidelines.  Then, using a brightly colored cover sheet to help us focus on where we are writing, we began practicing pressured strokes. Reggie provided us with great handouts and thorough explanations and demonstrations. He told us the right materials and set up will be conducive to the CONTROL we need to produce a pressurized hand. We were treated to a great potluck dinner and a slide show presentation (one of 3 during the weekend!) by Reggie on Saturday evening. They all offered us a glimpse of beautiful design layouts. Reggie’s definition of Layout Design is, “The deliberate placement of elements for a desired effect.” On Sunday, we learned how to cut and hone a Brause EF66 pointed nib into a tiny flexible ‘broad edge’. We continued practicing our pressurized letterforms and tried a few Italic capitals. Some favorite tidbits from Reggie were, “Think before you Ink” and “Up for the shape, Back down for the weight.” Then, all too soon, it was time to head home… exhausted, but also invigorated and feeling ‘the pressure’ to continue of our calligraphic journey.

There was so much more information given, things learned and encouragement given that all I can do is recommend that YOU plan on attending the next Big Sky Scribes workshop and experience it for yourself.        

-edited from Nota Bene article by Deb Parsons Menke